Police look at video cameras on uniforms

Transparency a cause a little closer to the heart ... the current NSW police force uniforms could soon be fitted out with Go Pro cameras. Photo: Anthony Johnson

POLICE are considering the use of personal digital video cameras attached to their uniform to capture their frontline experience as part of evidence gathering and greater accountability.

The Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, said on Monday, while there is no immediate plan to roll out small digital cameras for police ''we are looking at and we will consider it''.

''The NSW police force is aware of personal policing cameras in other international jurisdictions,'' he said.

''We've always said whether it's Taser or gun, or whether in car video or video inside a police complex, we're a transparent organisation. Whatever we need to capture, ultimately we're satisfied if it can be used in evidence, it should. And where not, if it's part of the accountability process, it should.''

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties president, Cameron Murphy, said the council supported the idea in principle because it would ensure police professionalism.

''But there are serious issues to consider about how such evidence is used and who has access to it,'' he said.

Mr Murphy said the idea was not new but something first floated by the Labor government in the early 2000s.

''There are very complex evidence issues with such devices and footage, and the main opponent was the police,'' he said.

The Victorian police union ridiculed a trial of uniform cameras in Melbourne this year, stating they could make members of the public reluctant to share information with police.

While common in the US, and trialled in Britain, in 2008 the Seattle Police Department stopped using personal cameras after the police union complained.

The NSW Police Association president, Scott Weber, said it was not a new issue but declined to comment.

Mr Scipione made the reference to a Go Pro camera after one was used by the police media unit to capture footage of police dealing with drunken revellers as part of the NSW launch of Operation Unite.

The nationwide campaign this weekend will see 1000 extra police on the streets of NSW on Friday and Saturday nights, with police instructed to clamp down on drunken antics.

Mr Scipione said police had been instructed to use discretion but also show little tolerance to all alcohol-related crimes, with fines and offenders to be taken into police custody.

''The warning is, we'll be there alongside you. And if we catch you we will put you before a court,'' he said.

''Make it your business not to wake up behind cells on Saturday or Sunday morning because that's where you'll be if you play up,'' he said.

Mr Scipione said the hard line was in reaction to the responsible drinking message not fully sinking in to young people who are drinking at record levels.

''Summer is upon us and that is the busiest time of the year for police … We owe it to the people of NSW to get drunken criminals off the streets,'' he said.

Last month, police announced they will conduct more than 1 million random breath tests on NSW motorists in the coming months.